


A Pause in the Bloodsong

by AntigravityDevice



Category: Elfquest
Genre: Canon-Typical Sexuality, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:24:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntigravityDevice/pseuds/AntigravityDevice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Wolfshadow. Skywise is back, but has lingering doubts about where he belongs. A dip in a forest pond might clear his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pause in the Bloodsong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redstapler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redstapler/gifts).



> _so if you’re out there in the cold_  
>  _I’ll cover you in moonlight_  
>  _if you’re a stranger to your soul_  
>  _I’ll bring you to your birthright_  
>  _I want the storm inside you awoken now_  
>  _I want your warm bright eyes_  
>  _to never look away_  
>  _don’t you ever look away_  
>  -Vienna Teng

Skywise's head smarts, an echo of a morning after a night soaked in dreamberry wine. He does feel like he's been saved from drowning. Something inside him is worn thin; he reached out so far in order to reach his wolf blood that he needed Cutter's reach to find his way back to his elfin self. It's no wonder his body feels the distances he's crossed. The relief makes his head fill up with bee-buzz.

Cutter helps him up, and after a few woozy steps he hoists Skywise's arm over his shoulders. "Come on. Let's get you back to the holt, brother." The word has never been more welcome, like water to his parched soul. "The others will be glad to see you out of the harm's way."

"Isn't that where I always lead you?" He says it with a laugh, but his heart is as heavy as his bones, weighed down with questions, especially when Cutter doesn't reply right away.

They both turn around to glance back before stepping into the sheltering shade of the trees. Skywise looks at the vast-deep sky, and the stars stare down at him. His steadfast friends; how could he have sunk low enough into his regrets to forget them, when they are always there to guide him, tell him their stories? He knows now that even they can die. But in star-time, beyond the reach of wolf-thought.

Cutter's gaze is on the cliff, and what lies underneath the waters that lap at it. No doubt he thinks he's snatched his soul brother back from the teeth of the Palace a second time. There's a glimmer of that old triumphant glow about him. But his eyes are so steady. They've seen so much. They stare into him like stars when Cutter turns to him.

"But I suppose those days are long gone," Skywise says. He can't send; a part of him hopes it's not true.

For all Rayek kept talking about time as a wheel, some things can never return.

To his utmost joy, Cutter laughs, his face shedding the years spent waiting. He laughs too hard to speak, and his sending feels like a warm touch on chilled skin. "This hasn't been trouble enough, Fahr? Mantricker's spirit guided me to you, I'm sure. I've missed playing tricks on the humans on your behalf."

Skywise can feel the smile reshape his face, bring back the elf he is and push the bestial fear away. He clasps the back of Cutter's hand, a reassurance of his own.

Something pricks Cutter's ears, and he listens intently for a moment. From his contented look, Skywise guesses Leetah's sending has reached him.

"She will tell Aroree and the others?"

"Yes." Cutter flicks a leaf from Skywise's hair. "You look like you've fallen into a shrub of thorns."

"Feel a little like it, too."

"Well, you've scratched all the burrs out of your fur now, I hope." Cutter flinches in the middle of his grin. The side of his face is bleeding. Skywise can't remember giving him that scrape, but he knows he has, and it makes him flinch, too. "She'll meet us on the way to the holt."

The forest is full of restless rustling. It's early in the night, although the stars are out. The season of the long sun has warmed the forest floor, and Skywise's bare feet fit silently amid the soft grass and bracken.

Leetah waits for them on a low branch, her legs tucked against the tree trunk. When she leaps down to embrace them, she breathes Cutter's soul name into both of their hair, for they will not separate. Skywise wouldn't admit it, but he doubts he could stay on his feet for long without Cutter's support. 

"Tam. My Tam. Skywise, my dear friend. You've returned to us." _Tam_ is a secret made all the more precious for being shared. Her sending splashes over them like a warm wave.

When she withdraws, her eyes flicker over scrapes and cuts, her soft hands brush against the edges of bruises. Skywise finds himself remembering Joyleaf, looking at them without scolding after one of their many scuffles as cubs. He used to take it easy on Cutter, younger and slighter than him. Now it's Cutter who has protected him from his own strength.

"The cubs?" Cutter touches his knuckles to her cheek.

"Already awake. Redlance has taken them to pick berries on the hillside." Having reassured him, her lips curve into a tender smile. "Follow me. You're both in need of a long bath."

"Good idea," Skywise admits. He smells of humans all over, and it brings out an old aversion, making him shiver.

Leetah moves effortlessly in the forest, leaping from fallen tree to moss-covered rock. Her clothes still have a touch of human to them, but Moonshade's clever hands have made sure nothing snags. They're both new here, in this strange woodland that was old even when they first walked through it, but she knows where she's heading. She only stops to listen to a bird flitting by, surprised by its clear, flute-like song. Skywise doesn't recognize it, either.

For a moment, he feels lost, in a way a Wolfrider should never be. His very blood seems to betray him, until he remembers there are no wolf's instincts in him to fall back on. The stars may shine the same, but countless eights of years have shaped this world, as Leetah's hands have shaped him. Time has always been a mystery to him, but he must make peace with it now; it surrounds him, it flows in his veins. His attention strays to Cutter at his side, at the signs of time on his face like notches on a tree.

It occurs to him that Cutter now carries time within himself, too. And for him, it was not a choice.

*

By the time they arrive at the dark, still pond, his legs have regained some of their strength, and he's looking forward to a swim. Nearly half the surface of the water is covered in wide, thick leaves of an unknown plant. A frightened bird jumps into flight from the top of one, but there's no other movement, not even an insect. An old, gnarled and burred tree reaches over the pond, and Cutter catches hold of the branch, whirling himself up. He leaves his leathers hanging on the branches like dead leaves. Leetah smiles up at him, slipping out of her strange and rich clothes and handing them to Cutter. The deep green of the hue of the season of the long sun almost makes the tree look in full leaf again.

Her brown skin is lovely, dappled with the shadows of the forest canopy. She notices him watching, and takes her time removing the golden band from her hair, letting the dark brown locks fall heavily down her back. A few shiny curls fall over her face; she brushes them aside with the same motion she plucks off her earrings, leaving her ears as bare and inviting as the rest of her. The invitation may not be for him, not in the way he would usually take it, so Skywise opts for the water. Her exquisite beauty is something he doesn't mind observing without touching. 

He takes off what little he's wearing, and dives right in, unafraid of any chill; he's used to cold forest streams. His stomach lurches when his feet fail to touch the bottom of the pond, and he lets out a surprised yelp. The water is deep, and touch-warm, like the night air around them. His body suddenly remembers what an exhilaration it is to fly, to touch nothing but the sky and Aroree's hungry skin.

The other two laugh at his spluttering. 

"It's not cold, is it?" Leetah giggles; it's not a question. "Mind you, it doesn't steam like a proper hot spring, either."

Skywise can't help but smile along with her. "You Sun Village maidens do like your steam, don't you?"

"You seemed to like the hot springs well enough, as I recall," Cutter teases.

"Mostly for the treasures you could find in them."

When Cutter jumps into the pond, Skywise splashes water in his face the moment he surfaces, making sure he breathes it in. A huge leaf floats nearby, and he shields himself with it from Cutter's playful retaliation. The laughter sweeps the years aside, making them cubs again, unaware of the vastness of the world.

"Ah, we're on time!" Leetah steps on the leaf when Skywise lets it rest on the surface again, and hops onto the next. The sturdy leaves barely even bend from her weight. Her dark curls flow against the soft curves of her body when she kneels down to cup a flower bud against her palm. It's so big she needs both her hands for the task. The bud is covered in fine fur and plump, near to bursting with white petals. She stretches out on top of the leaf, crossing her ankles like a carefree maiden, holding the bud out in front of her.

"Touch it, lifemate," she invites.

Cutter shakes his wet hair off his face, and swims over to do as she asks. His face slackens with surprise. "It's warm?"

Skywise swims closer, letting his hair float around his head like weeds. His nose detects a faint, sweet smell. It takes him a moment to notice the white flowers floating amid the leaves. Most of them are barely opened, shyly facing the moons for the first time.

"They only bloom for two nights."

She reaches out her glowing hand, brushing the clawmark from Cutter's face with languid ease. Skywise feels the tingly edges of her magic. It's like basking in front of a fire. Cutter turns his face into her touch; the bruise on his cheek fades away. Finally, she taps up his chin, draws a line up his throat.

"First night, they glow hot until they open white as the mother moon. They stretch their petals, luring in the night with their sweet fragrance."

Cutter's eyes grow as hazy as the dawn sky. He draws a deep breath and holds it. Leetah leans closer, letting her breath touch his face. Her voice is low, as close to whisper as it can drop. As she speaks, she holds Cutter's hands around the bud. Its scales start to bend, stretching out until the fresh white petals peek out.

"On their second night, they blush pink. Some dark, some a lighter hue. Much like your cheeks, my friend." Leetah's leaf-green eyes capture him, and Skywise suspects they have their desired effect; there's little he can do to stop it, as close as he is to Cutter's body heat, to the warm flower he and Leetah hold between them.

Perhaps spurred on by the touch of her magic, the flower opens into a splendorous full bloom, only the barest hint of pink to the roots of its plush, white petals. The faint fragrance suddenly fills the air, drowning Skywise's senses.

"Enough sweetness to make your head spin." He sends; the air is too thick for spoken words.

Leetah is still looking at him, and now she shivers as Cutter's mouth touches her ear.

"Nightfall... told me they're called Water Stars."

She reaches out her hand; Skywise rests one palm on the leaf and leans closer. She pets his hair, and draws a tingling line down the curve of his ear to his face. The dull ache of a deep bruise disappears. Cutter's mouth is on the side of her graceful neck, but she refuses to be distracted, her words touching their minds like a caress.

"Unlike your stars, they don't live long. But I think it makes their bloom all the sweeter."

Skywise's ears finally prick up to what she means, but before he can say anything, Cutter grins, snakes his arms around Leetah and pulls her down to him. She has time to make a surprised noise before Cutter's embrace pulls her underwater. When they surface again, Leetah's limbs are wrapped around Cutter like wet leaves.

"You wanted to tell us something about seizing the moment?" Cutter nods his forehead against hers. His voice echoes with cub-like mirth, but it's edged with warmth.

Leetah's curls gleam wet in the pale moonlight. She gathers herself very quickly, although Skywise knows she doesn't swim well. "Perhaps I just wanted to make you smile, my barbarian." 

Skywise swims close, following her gesture, and she welcomes his nearness, curving up her shoulder for him. Even under starlight, he can taste the sun on her skin. That lovely, sun-touched skin of hers; he's explored it from dawn to dusk, and not had his fill. But that was in another holt, another time.

She runs her fingers through Cutter's face-fur. Skywise can tell that although she's not used to it, she likes it. The two of them are such an easy match now, of an age, with hungry eyes to learn more. Skywise kicks the water, moving back and giving them their moment.

His soul brother's hand closes around his wrist and stops him, tugs him close again. "Fahr," his mind reaches out, and then he says aloud, "Since when are you shy to share your pleasures?"

There's no answer that Cutter doesn't already know. Time stands between them, bringing its mysteries and uncertainties. He knows the very soul of Cutter, yet he doesn't know what he's been through without him. His place by his chief-friend's side is newly forged, too fragile to be tested.

"Come, my friend," Leetah invites with a smile that no living elf can refuse, and cups his face between her hands. Healing magic trickles down his body, turning every scrape and bruise into a burst of warm pleasure and comfort. It makes him moan in pleasure, that exquisite sense of being made whole, as Cutter's arms close around him and Leetah both.

Cutter's breath is hot against the nape of his neck. "You belong here," he sends, and there is nothing but truth in that declaration, nothing but sweet, honest truth.

The water embraces them from all sides as their bodies slowly join together, skin sliding against skin, melting into one.

*

There's urgency in their touch, if not their joining. Closeness means more to them than quenching their thirst, and they revel in the knots three hues of fingers can form, in the holds of slippery calves and ankles. When the heat builds so high he can't tell whose touch it is he feels, Skywise becomes aware of the first tingling of impatience. He's gasping for breath, barely keeping to the surface of the warm pond they're in and the wealth of feeling they're sharing. But this is the kind of drowning he enjoys.

Leetah, however, has had enough. With a strong kick, she surges up, holding the edge of one of the big leaves for her leverage. Skywise loses his hold on her, and misses the feel of her skin immediately, even though Cutter keeps him as warm as he can be.

"Your bath has been long enough, I think," Leetah says with a laugh, and moves back on the leaf, as sinuously as a snake. She holds out her hand, curves her fingers. "Here, my sweets. I want to find out if it can hold the three of us."

Cutter nips at his ear, and pushes him forward, so Skywise climbs up on the leaf next, shaking pond water from his hair. The spray of warm water makes Leetah giggle and shield her face with one hand.

"Look at you - in full white bloom, like the Water Stars!"

Skywise smooths back his hair, out of convenience rather than self-consciousness. He's always liked to pull his hair back from his face. It makes him feel like he's facing the world straight on, no veils, no secrets. It's how she makes him feel as well; there's nothing her clever touch and well-placed words couldn't coax out. She stretches out her legs, every shift of her body full of purpose and grace, heat shining in her eyes.

The leaf bends underneath him, and Skywise turns to look at Cutter, who's leaning his crossed arms on it. The water makes his long, pale hair wave. His eyes are still full of years, but they twinkle with mischief, like the young cub's he used to know.

"I like it here," he declares.

Leetah makes an exasperated noise, and sends as she moves slowly on the wet leaf, a dancer even lying down. "You'd make me wait, my dear Tam?" Her touch brings Skywise closer, their legs starting to tangle. "Tease me long enough, and I'll share with you the ache you bring out in me. I'll curve it around every sweet limb." Her fingers drag along his scalp as he tastes her skin, and now Skywise no longer knows if she's sending to Cutter, or him, or them both. "I will let it trickle into your breath like steam."

Skywise can sense her urgency to have Cutter close, to have him be a part of this. It brings to his mind the days he's been roused from his sleep by Cutter's sudden gasp; the tenseness of him, until he and Leetah have melted his anxiousness into comfort. His wolf blood brings him nightmares, keeps him trapped to this world's time and the long wait he's endured. Together, the two of them can help him look beyond. They can bring him into startime, for a while.

He extends his hand. "Indulge us, brother. We're impatient. We-- whoa!"

The leaf dips lower with Cutter's weight on it, sipping water. It's almost impossible to find a handhold on the smooth, slippery surface, but Cutter manages not to slip right back into the pond. Skywise keeps his hold on his hand, and Cutter lands heavily on his side, half-sprawled on top of him.

"We're not the only ones anxious to welcome Skywise back," Leetah reminds her lifemate, smiling as he touches his mouth to the side of her curving foot. "Some other time... We'll have the whole night for our pleasure. We'll linger as long as you wish."

"Mm." Cutter leans over Skywise to nuzzle his face to the side of hers, and she squirms in delight, awaking every bit of Skywise's skin that touches hers.

"You'd need far longer than a single night to teach me patience of this kind," Skywise says, laughter in his throat, but the meaning behind his light words sneaks up on him. He turns to look at Cutter, and feels the aching truth of his tribename - his gaze cuts right into him, and the stars are in his eyes again, ageless and beyond his reach.

Cutter's arm curls around him and pulls him close, his back to Cutter's chest, until the hold is tight enough to steal his breath. "I hope you never learn," he mumbles into Skywise's hair with fierce affection. The next words are for Skywise alone. "I hope you never learn to wait, Fahr."

Leetah gasps, Cutter's weight bringing Skywise down to her, and their closeness becomes movement, a scramble to find their unity again without the weightlessness of water. It's not just reassurance they seek this time; as soon as their breaths quicken and the water cools on their heated skin, Skywise knows that playing is over. This is not a quick tumble with a lovemate or three. The two others are too close to his soul for that.

Their words blur into heated, sent images, showing what their touches can't, guiding each other's hands and mouths. Hers are precise and slick-soft, and bring with them a flicker of her magic. It builds slowly, gathering sparks, making all three of them tremble for more. Skywise wonders how high this tingly tension can possibly build, and shudders involuntarily, remembering the tales Sun Village maidens liked to tell about their healer. He's not afraid; no, he's breathless with exhilaration. She had the power to draw the wolf from within him, but he could never be afraid of her. He knows she could find his soul name whenever she wishes. He knows she won't.

Cutter's touch is familiar, and that has its own magic. Eights and eights of years haven't changed the way his breath hitches, the way he seems to count Skywise's ribs with his touch. Joinings have always been little more than play, albeit affectionate play, for the two of them. Skywise had nothing against teaching his younger playmate a thing or two in the dreamberry bush, but his tastes do run to the more feminine - not that it matters as much when one likes to have as many lovemates warming his furs as possible. It's been a long time since they indulged in this sport, or a long time as Skywise remembers it. As far as he knows, for Cutter it has been far longer, and yet he doesn't hesitate.

Skywise senses the effortless strength underneath Cutter's touch just the way he feels the power within Leetah. Caught between the two of them, what can he do but surrender? He throws himself into their tender mercies with a wild laugh. Caught between warm bodies, trapped in the heat of their movement - there is no pleasure sweeter than that.

Cutter's answer to his laugh is to sink his teeth into his neck with a hungry noise. His hips buck, and his bite holds, as strong as it can be without breaking skin. Perhaps there's still a trace of wolf left in Skywise, because his first instinct is to yield. Cutter is older than him, now, and a true chief; he has the right, and it feels right. Skywise's thoughts turn hazy, giving over to desire, to letting Cutter have his way.

Leetah squirms underneath him, drawing his attention back to her. Her fingers brush over his lips, leaving them tingling, then brush a line down from her throat to her navel, as far down as she can reach. He needs no sending image to add to that, diving down to coax breathy noises out of her with his eager mouth. Cutter helps him adjust, until they're all following each other again. The leaf under Leetah's body is wet and smooth, and she moves along it with ease, offering Skywise the whole expanse of her exquisite body to pleasure. Her arms dip into the water as her back arches like a drawn bow. Her magic shimmers around them, surging whenever Skywise makes her writhe or let out a delicious sound. 

Even without the magic heightening his senses, Skywise knows they're reaching the peak they must tumble down from. But he'll linger in the climb as long as he can. Cutter's knowing hands drawing fire on him, his soul as close as his body, and Leetah like a ripe, burst berry against his tongue, sharp and sweet through the water that coats them; both of them, utterly irresistible. When the tension breaks, he follows Leetah into bright exaltation, magic swirling warmth through him. His first thought upon regaining his senses is of Cutter. He never wants to go anywhere, or anywhen, his soul brother won't follow.

Together with Leetah they encircle Cutter in the timeless joy of the stars.

*

Shared warmth makes the three of them drowsy, limbs draped heavily over limbs. The water laps at their leaf. The Water Stars scent the air. It's the perfect place to settle the heartbeat and cool the skin.

"My love?" Aroree's sending is like the fluttering of a wing. "Are you far from the holt? Ember has caught a ravvit. She's eager to show it to her father."

He smiles, imagining Ember's glowing pride. "Cutter and Leetah will be there soon. I won't keep them. We're done with our bath, I think."

"I'll bring you your leathers. They were a little... torn, but Moonshade has done her best."

Skywise runs his hand idly through Leetah's curls. He can't resist teasing Aroree. "I need to be wearing something, then?"

It amuses her, like he hoped it would. Her giggle is like the low-pitched trill of a bird. He wishes he could hear it. "The night is but young, my little love. Wait for me. I will follow your sending and find you."

Skywise takes a deep breath of the night air, and lets it out, stretching out his limbs, even the arm caught under Cutter's shoulders. The forest canopy is thin enough over the pond to reveal a broad expanse of night sky, and it draws his attention, like it always does. He once gave Leetah and Cutter two stars, to guide their way when they became lifemates; he can no longer find them, but he will, given enough time to study this new sky. 

The night is but young, and long may it last.

**Author's Note:**

> Giant water lilies aren't actually this convenient as a threesome location, but perhaps in Abode they are.


End file.
